Chairman Charles Bartholomew, Dawn Youngman, Su Stafford, Brian Yorston and Colin Oke of Wadworth’s

Wadworth brewery in Devizes has confirmed its eco-friendly credentials after it was announced that it is up for a national ‘green’ award.

The Northgate brewery is one of ten companies shortlisted in the community vote category of the National Footprint Awards 2012.

The award encourages consumers to support local food and drink businesses that operate strong green policies by voting for them to win. There were originally some 50 companies nominated in this category.

The winner and two runners-up will be announced at the National Footprint Awards dinner to be held in London on May 24.

Su Stafford, manager of the brewery’s popular visitor centre, said: “We worked hard to implement our green policies and are proud of our commitment to sustainable brewing.

“I’m delighted that the progress we have made has been recognised, and many thanks to everyone who voted for us – fingers crossed now for May 24.”

Wadworth has implemented a wide variety of green measures over the last few years. These include re-using casks and kegs and the recycling of waste products from the brewery such as used grain and hops.

Energy conservation has been assisted with the installation of a vapour condenser, which makes use of steam produced in the brewing process to heat incoming water.

The inclusion in the short-list is the latest accolade the brewery has received for its conservation and recycling policies.

The visitor centre at the brewery was recently awarded silver in the National Sustainable Tourism Certificate scheme, the only such scheme for the UK.

It is an improvement on last year’s bronze award and reflects the further efforts made by Wadworth staff to improve green measures and work with the community.

The inspectors praised the informal role played by the visitor centre in taking on the role of Devizes Information Tourist Centre, closed last year by Wiltshire Council.

Bath’s only brewer, Abbey Ales, has acquired another city centre pub in the World Heritage City of Bath.

The Trinity, situated on James Street West of Kingsmead Square, is Abbey Ales fourth venue in the city and joins the National Heritage Inventory listed Star Inn, Baths premier sports bar, the Assembly Inn and Bath’s smallest pub, the Coeur De Lion. It will be tastefully restored to its former glory and will offer the best of the award-winning brewer’s own range of cask beers, including its flagship brand, Bellringer.

Refurbished as a traditional pub but adding a contemporary stylish feel to a classic interior The Trinity situated right in the heart of the city will appeal to theatre-goers, tourists and locals alike who will be able to enjoy Abbey Ales prize winning ales as well as a range of other locally brewed ales, continental lagers traditional pub food plus a selection of fine wines and spirits.

The food on offer will focus on British classics such as home-made pies with mash, fish and chips, roast beef sandwiches a traditional Sunday lunch plus a house special not yet revealed!

Commenting on the acquisition, Managing Director Alan Morgan said: “We are delighted to have acquired the Trinity. We have a love and enthusiasm for great beer and quality pub food. The Trinity is another Bath city centre pub for us and we believe city centre pubs are the way forward for us and we are considering more outlets in the city. We believe beer enthusiasts will particularly enjoy what the Trinity has to offer.”

He said the pub was likely to be closed for at least two months to allow refurbishment work to take place. It will be managed by Tycjan Zaleski who is currently the manager of La Tasca in Broad Street and has extensive experience in the food industry. Mr Zaleski has known the pub for many years and also wants to revive its sports teams and its former reputation as a rugby pub.

“I have always loved the Trinity and we are going to do things to make it special and different from all the other pubs in the near vicinity. There’s a lot of money being put into this part of town.”

Founded in 1997, Abbey Ales is the first and only brewery in the historic City of Bath for over fifty years, and is the initiative of experienced brewery sales and marketing manager Alan Morgan.

A Camra prize winning beer Bellringer is the only cask beer continuously produced at the Abbey Brewery, a golden 4.2% abv best bitter. Successfully launched at the Bath CAMRA beer festival in October 1997 Bellringer is now the top selling cask bitter in the World Heritage City of Bath and is as popular with the many visitors to the Georgian City as it is with Bathonians.

An award winning South West brewery has made the decision to re-launch under a different name in an attempt to grow business with local customers.

West Dorset-based Art Brew will continue under its original name with existing customers, who are mostly in the South East of England, but will be known locally as The Chideock Brewery.

Art Brew co-owner and head brewer Becky Whinnerah says: “We’ve found it a bit of a struggle to get local pubs to take our beer and wondered whether our somewhat Bohemian image was putting them off.

“Although customers closer to London have really gone for our brand, as well as our beer, it seems that Dorset drinkers have more traditional tastes – so we’re hoping to win them over by using more conventional branding closer to home.”

Although the brewery’s portfolio seems to appeal more to the specialist or craft beer market, Becky says their range also includes more traditional beers and two of these have been given new names to reflect the location in which they are brewed.

“We’ve chosen names that are connected to local history and that will hopefully strike a chord with publicans and consumers who want to stock and drink a locally made product,” explains Becky.

The two brews renamed as part of the rebranding exercise are Martyr’s Best, a 4.5% mid brown bitter with a malty, caramel character, and Marshwood Pale, a 3.9% golden session ale.

Becky added: “The local community seems to approve of our re-launch, but we’ll have to see if that approval translates into sales.”

Quantock Brewery’s excellent beers continued to prove themselves scooping 3 prestigious awards at the SIBA Southwest Beer Competition 2012. The competition was fierce with 262 beers entered from breweries across the South West.

Quantock’s Wills Neck 4.3 ABV won Gold in the Best Bitters category and also took Silver in the Overall Champion.

Wills Neck gets its name from the highest point on the Quantock Hills overlooking the Bristol Channel. It is late hopped to produce a prominent aroma with hints of grapefruit and cherries and a lasting bitterness on the palate.
Rob Rainey, who has brewed Wills Neck since 2010 said “We have always felt that this bright golden ale with its rich malty flavor was excellent. To win Gold and be Silver in Overall Champion is a very proud moment for us all”.

In addition to Wills Neck, the Quantock Brewery won Bronze in the Speciality Beers section with a new beer – Ginger Cockney 4.0 ABV.

This is one of the few beers brewed in the South West by a woman – Cheryl Ford. “It is the first beer I have brewed and I am thrilled to have done so well”.

Ginger Cockney is an amber coloured ale produced from a blend of 3 malts, hopped with Summit and Cascade hops and brewed with fresh root ginger to give a hint of ginger flavour to the beer. It is formulated to appeal to a female market but also to the male market as the ginger is not overdone.

Quantock Brewery, established in 2007, aims to brew the highest quality ales using traditional craft brewing techniques. Their beers are full of flavour and character and are brewed from locally sourced raw materials wherever possible.

All the beers are available in cask to be drunk on draught from your local pub and also in bottles to be enjoyed at home.

For further information and to find where you can purchase all Quantock Brewery’s fantastic beers please contact the brewery at:

Quantock Brewery Ltd
Unit E Monument View
Summerfield Avenue
Chelston Business Park
Wellington
Somerset TA21 9ND

Tel: 01823 662669 www.quantockbrewery.co.uk

Dorset Brewing Company’s golden ale, Yachtsman, was a huge success at this year’s Tuckers Maltings Beer Festival held at Newton Abbott last week. A showcase for the West Country brewers, the festival competition gets harder every year with over 250 different real ales being judged.

Organised by SIBA South West Branch, and held at the unique venue of Tuckers Maltings, Yachtsman was awarded silver in the Premium Bitter class and DBC’s MD Giles Smeath was delighted with the success. “Being awarded a silver in the same year that Weymouth hosts the Olympic sailing and we enjoy the first year in our new premises with a new plant, this award couldn’t be timed better. The staff have worked extremely hard and it has been a great team effort. We relocated the brewery in January 2011 and this is a true recognition of all they’ve put in.”

Brewed to commemorate the 2012 Sailing Olympics in Weymouth, this is Yachtsman’s second award since its launch last year. Consequently, due to its immediate success and popularity throughout the South West, this 4.7% golden ale is now also available in bottle as well as cask.

For more information, please contact:
Kathy Thornton, Marketing Director
Tel: 01305 777515
Email: kathy@dbcales.com
Web: www.dbcales.com

The West Country’s fastest growing Brewery, Butcombe, has secured an expansion of its listings in Asda stores from April 2012. Key brands; Butcombe Bitter, Gold and Brunel IPA, have been rolled out from ten to twenty-eight of its larger stores in the South West, from Swindon to Taunton and Southampton to Hereford. The brands retail in-store for £1.89 per bottle.

Ale growth is continuing to be driven by the premium category, despite the toughest economic backdrop in many generations. The premium bottled ale category outperformed the rest of the sector delivering growth in both volume (+11% Year on Year) and value (+12.2% Year on Year) and recruiting

over 450,000 new shoppers. (Source: Nielsen year to October 1, 2011).

Butcombe brands are stocked in over 550 supermarkets across the UK, as well as a large number of independent convenience stores and off licences. The range includes: Butcombe Bitter (4.5% A.B.V.), Butcombe Gold (4.7% A.B.V.), Butcombe Blond (4.5% A.B.V.), Butcombe Brunel IPA (5.0% A.B.V.) and recently launched Adam Henson’s Rare Breed (4.2% A.B.V.).

For further information on all Butcombe Brewery’s bottled beers, visit http://www.butcombebottles.com/ or follow Butcombe Brewery on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Butcombe-Brewery Twitter: ButcombeBrewery
Linkedin: UK Bottled Ale Group